Jack Perry knows how important his first entrance theme was to his early success in wrestling.
WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard recently spoke with “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry about his career, including using Baltimora’s “Tarzan Boy” as his theme song. “Tarzan Boy” found initial success when it was released in 1985, then it charted again when it was re-recorded in 1993. The song is also known for its inclusion on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack but most wrestling fans know it now because of the link to Perry.
Jack Perry has not seen the movie but he knows the link between the two. Perry spoke about how much the song helped him early on, crediting Joey Janela for suggesting it in the first place.
“I’ve seen the clip now because people have shown it to me. That song, it’s interesting; it was Joey Janela’s idea originally. And on the indies, he’s like, ‘I’m gonna book you on the show, but I want you to use this music,’ and I’d never heard it before because I hadn’t seen the movie, and I was like, ‘Dude, I’ll do whatever just put me on the show. I’ll do whatever you want.’ And it was weird because I literally didn’t know what the song was that I was going to be coming out to,” Perry explained, “but immediately people were just loving it. And for some reason, people have always wanted to wave their hands like this. So to come out and just see people having a blast right off the bat was really cool.”
Jack Perry didn’t have the song for his debut with Jurassic Express in AEW, but Tony Khan bought the rights and “gifted” it to him in time for the January 5, 2021 episode of AEW Dark. Perry said the song dares everyone to have fun with it and “the rest is history.”
“And then AEW started, and I kind of lost it for a minute. We had some different theme music, and one day Tony just had a grin on his face and was like, ‘I got your music,’ and I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And it came on [during my entrance], and the rest is kind of history. I think it’s like it comes on, and people immediately are just out of their seats and having a good time,” Perry explained. “It’s just very inspiring to me. I just go out there and see what a good time everyone’s having, and I’m just like well, shit. I better have a good time too.”
Jack Perry turned on HOOK at Forbidden Door and looks to have dropped the theme song since then. Despite his character’s new direction, Perry knows how much the song helped get him over.
Joey Janela himself commented on Perry ditching “Tarzan Boy” as his theme song, writing the following on Twitter:
“Jacks been wearing that jacket for years it’s his dads jacket from the 90s,” Janela wrote. “[A]lso fuck you @boy_myth_legend for abandoning my best contribution to your career and the business Baltimora-Tarzan boy!”
Watch our full interview with Jack Perry below:
